I'm a game designer, and my latest project grew out of a simple question. Why does space exploration only ever seem to happen in sci-fi? Plenty of times you hear about dragons that can fly between worlds as part of the backstory or as flavor, but it's never the actual plot! So I decided to build a video game about interstellar dragon riders.
Very nice idea. I will say that there was a forgotten realms novel where the story was broken up with the history of the elves coming from space in wooden boats. It was a fun read.
@@Spiqaro A lazy, extremely bored high schooler imagines his school and teacher as something that an immature teenager would think is "cool" instead of learning and paying attention
@@Spiqaro a group of redditors take down magic America by getting the dark lord and the rest of the political parties into twinkies, and the magic system is based around the consumption of food
@@purplepawn5336 Based around the consumption of food? That sounds awesome. And since you put them into twinkies, perhaps the only food that activates magical abilities is sugary. So people can conjure ice storms and fireballs, but only if they eat popsicles, sriricha sauce and the like.
It's always a fun challenge! When I was much younger, I was a fanfic author who had the belief "an idea is only as bad or good as the author who translates it into form". Back in 2007, I started a self-insertion fanfiction purely because people on the internet would always say "self-inserts are always bad stories and taboo for good authors" and I was like "alright, challenge accepted!". To add to the challenge, I made it first-person (when I'm primarily a third-person writer) so that the story had no choice BUT to stick with the self-insert and to give me an extra challenge. It became one of the most reviewed (and very well known) Fire Emblem fanfiction prior to 2013 and the fandom's explosion. Just goes to show there's no such thing as a bad idea, just ideas that may be currently out of an author's ability to transform into a good story! :D I even committed the ultimate taboo for an SI and paired up the MC with my favorite character (at the time), but the whole friendship to relationship developed organically and naturally to the point the followers actually were pushing for the pairing to get together before it was even written. Which, to me, felt like a vindication of the idea that anything can be done if done correctly. Literally tried to break as many of the established "rules" as possible in an attempt to give a giant middle finger to any pre-established notions of what makes a "bad" fanfic.
Like Dammit_ Travis said, there aren't very many writers who are able to speak and teach so well. Doing and teaching are two different skills in most cases. Brandon is rare in that he can bridge that gap. Also, you are quite cute, can I get your number or insta?
Well then, might I suggest my podcast where I interview authors about exactly this kind of thing? And... just... so much more.I'm in the process of posting my episodes to youtube as well, but it's a slower process. fromthinkingtoinking.podbean.com
I've just started oathbringer. Mistborn is one of my all time favourites. What a great time for authors over the last 10 years. Mr Sanderson, Mark Lawrence, Brent Weeks, Peter V Brett, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Trudi Canavan, Robin Hobb, Seanan McGuire, and Kate Griffin. I've loved sci fi/fantasy for 40 years, but this last decade has been on a different level.
I don't know man. Don't you get jaded when the first book is just a build-up for the next five books in the series? Everybody seems to have the trilogy, pentology, septology or whatever already planned before the first one is finished, and few are willing to have a more or less self-contained story anymore.
@@mikedangerdoes I personally love when authors have things planned from the beginning and lay hints. It's one of my favorite things, to finish a series and feel like I want to go back and read it again to see every little thing building up to all the big reveals. Sounds like you're just someone who prefers standalones maybe? In fantasy those can be harder to come by but they exist.
@@nicolev.3532 I really appreciate pay offs and world-building and all that. But I don't really want to read 400 to 800 pages of set-up, just to get to the end and realise that nothing gets really resolved until the next book, if at all. Beginning, middle, end. There's a reason it's a tried and true formula. Even Harry Potter could keep each book pretty well self-contained, at least as far as its plot structure was concerned.
@@mikedangerdoes there's a kind of "formula" that I remember hearing on the Writing Excuses podcast that was basically: end the first book as if it is a stand-alone. Then, you can have your second book end in a cliff-hanger as bait for the third to complete a trilogy. This way, someone can finish a book and still feel satisfied but if it isn't your thing, no big deal. If you DO want more, then you're in for the long-haul for a bigger story. I wish more series followed this set-up. Some series follow this, some do not. Of those that do not: I enjoyed the First Law series enough to forgive it. I did not enjoy Ilium or Hyperion enough to read past the first book.
A lot of amateur writers have fantastic ideas, I'd bet many of the best ideas every thought up never were good books because the person who had them couldn't write them. And my personal favorite book, the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, is an idea which wouldn't have been interesting (to me anyway) in the hands of any other author.
The best thing I do to start a story’s concept is to ask a what if, and then let the questions and answers start spiraling Fantasy example: what if a knight woke up as a skeleton with no memory, holding a talking sword fixed with a demonic eye? Why did they lose their memories? Who or what took their memories? What’s the sword? Why does it speak, where did it come from? Did they die and come back at a later era in time? Is there anyone that awoke the same way? And from there it just builds and builds. Works every time
SPOILER Mistborn isn't really "What if Sauron got the Ring" in the end though. It was really more "What if Sam murdered Frodo, took the Ring and became the Dark Lord". Something like Star Wars is a more straight example of the Dark Lord actually winning.
Book 2 Spoilers That's an accurate description on the first book there, but I would say the end of the second book shows off the whole 'Frodo handing Sauron the ring'-idea.
+Jonathan Campbell Once you get your idea, you obviously can springboard off of it to make any number of variations, that's the beauty of a piece of inspiration.
I'd argue that it's the anime Gurren Lagann as a novel if you look at the plot and character archetypes of the two. Like... it's literally that, which I find astonishing since the two came out around the same time.
@@PrimeofPerfection You are 100% correct. I love Gurren Lagaan and watched it way before reading Mistborn. After reading Mistborn I was blown away by how similar! But guess what, that’s just plot in general! I’m sure Brandon never went through and extrapolated it in the same way, but isn’t it cool how stories can be so similar/so different. Kamina/Kelsier are so similar. But then the stories have plenty of differences too!
I've heard variations of this advice from multiple successful authors, now. One idea by itself isn't enough to carry a novel. The good stuff happens when two or more unrelated ideas get mixed together. And sometimes the two ideas come to you years apart from one another. For a long time I resisted keeping a writer's notebook, because I didn't really get it. I get it now.
Thank you Brandon for sharing your endless wealth of literary knowledge with us! These lectures have been super informative for my own writing and have helped me to really improve my writing! Blessings from France 🇫🇷 *sorry for not so great English*
The idea of ideas bouncing off each other and sticking creating a story. You describe it in a way it reminds me of the idea of nuclear fusion. Where two radioactive particles collide and the fusion reaction creates 10 times the power of nuclear fission (think fission is the term idk though) for splitting the atom
I came up with a story idea from 3 characters, 2 elves that had wings, 1 that didn't, and from it I created 5 different base races, 3 races that developed from the base races, 7 languages, 6 continents and an island, and about 4 different versions of over 2000 years of history. I started with a simple idea and kept building off of it.
The person who said lost roman legion plus pokemon was digging their own grave. Pokemon is a really easy concept to apply and having the settings as the roman world which is pretty interesting
I love that I found this... Thing is I work slightly differently. A scene comes to mind, and I work a story around that scene. I add characters as needed to fill in the roles which have opened up. For me, story comes first, characters second. After a first draft, I understand my characters and I expand from there. My current project has had an odd work flow as I work linearly. I'd wrote 14 chapters having no idea what to do, but to get to where I wanted to introduced a particular character and then I finished the rest of the story easily. In doing so, I now know how the first 14 chapters are suppose to be written and I am working on that now. Sorry for the long text but I'd love to hear more from this channel and will probably binge some.
Everything you said here sounds exactly how I've written music my entire life starting when I was 11. What an unforseen parallel that has only reinforced you as my favorite author these last 8 years.
Thank you Mr. Sanderson. These videos mean a lot to me, as I have been very discouraged in my own writing and I thank you for helping me find the excitement again. Hoping to use these tools to improve! Cheers.
i'm so happy this guy is so quick on stories and is really engaged in the writing/teaching world. but this is my first time hearing his voice and i was not expecting that voice :P
As a novice writer, it's nice to know that you are developing your thought processes in a similar way as published authors. I often take plot ideas and combined them to create something new, sometimes it's good, sometimes I have to take a step back and say I can't write this at the moment, I don't have the skills yet. It's back there on the back burner waiting for me when I am ready.
A question I would have liked to have asked on your livestream: what was the thing that entered your head that began the journey for The Stormlight Archive?
@@laughsingay Alan Hoover My story began when I was thinking what I would do with what I consider plotholes in my favorite videogame series (jak & daxter as you can tell by my pic) if I were to make a sequel or prequel. It has grown so much throughout these 4 years that the original idea is barely existant now. Fun fact: there are a few plotlines that are based on dreams just like you, and one of them my bff and I were characters (talking about staying hours brainstorming before sleep lol). Unfortunately mine dies... I literally checked if my head was on its place. Good luck with your own stories!
So in an alternate reality where Brandon's ideas had congealed slightly differently we could have ended up with the Miststorm Trilogy or the Rithmamist
Jim Butcher might be right, but I don't think he proved anything. Pokemon has been a worldwide phenomenon for 25 years and still running strong, and does not get the respect it deserves. There are tons of popular fan-fiction, and fans are clamoring for more content. If you are a half decent writer and your sales pitch is pokemon crossed with anything, you will draw interest. Honestly after reading the Codex Alera series, I wished the pokemon aspect was more prevalent.
Jim's story smells of sock puppetry lol. It is as you say taking the appealing idea of capturing monsters you then train to do battle with another great idea of the Roman legions. Two very appealing ideas, just coincidence the sock puppet chose those lol.
@@captbunzo It is pretty fun series. I just consumed them all in a row but last book got so boring i had to quit. Still sad that it didn't end very strong.
He’s right. Codex Alera is a really good book series and nobody ever talks about it. Not as good as Mistborn or even Dresden but a sorely under represented Jim Butcher series nonetheless.
I figure there are a lot of writers and aspiring authors in here. Me too, obviously. GOOD LUCK TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! I hope y'all make it big and I get to read your work.
At 4:30: ideas are like atoms crashing around...well sir, that's actually how science works for me. I love this analogy--I too keep a series of brainstorming files and those list out good ideas for chemical analysis that aren't applicable to my current project. Whenever I get stuck, I open up the brainstorming files and see if there's anything helpful. Solved a problem just this week involving a poorly documented nitrogen reaction: the inspiration arose from a well known solution to a phosphate chemistry problem--I don't work with phosphates, I just saved the idea in my brainstorming file because it had interesting perspectives.
Had that mentality for a while now ever since I’ve come into the community of magic building Story of my life I was sitting around a Bon Fire with my friends when one of them took out money and set it alight coz nobody wanted to go fetch the wood to burn and the shock of that moment of seeing that money burn had me thinking all the way back home smelling of smoke and all... from that single moment and never before thought of scenario I came up with almost half a dozen magic systems all drawing from that single memory no joke cause depending on how I looked at it each and every time I would come up with another idea or add on to it, most of these magic systems are in one story but a few have spawned potential stories as well and each took me months to build and some I’m still building 3 years later
The idea from my story came from an album by my favorite artist. The album was named K.O.D. and it was a dark album. It posed the question, are you a King of Darkness? What does it mean to be King? In my story, I answer it. To be a King of Darkness isn't to create, destroy, or command. It is to be able to survive all the is thrown at you and overcome it. That's the name of my story, King of Darkness.
I get my ideas from dreams I had + things I love. I keep journals of ideas, dialogue, scenarios, settings, and random characters. I'm happy to know a best-selling author has a similar method of writing as me, by piecing a story together from all these different parts. I also write what I know I would personally love to read about. Reason my big WIP is a science/fantasy adventure with floating islands, crystal palaces, magic and theoretical quantum physics mixing, and people dealing with inherited issues from previous generations. And dragons! My main characters are all in their 20s, ranging from 22 to 29, and explore this transient period of growth where you don't feel like an adult while also not being a kid. I'm sick of teenage protagonists being our only viewpoint in these stories - Give me adults on grand adventures for once.
What was being said at the end I forgot no to be very true, I can think of some great ideas for a story but the moment I try to write something based upon it, I completely ruin it, I can capture what it is that I was thinking. The skill of the writer is definitely key to making a good book, I for one have already figured out first hand that I will never be a writer.
Oh yeah two completely unappealing ideas lol. Capturing monsters and training them to do battle, and the Romans. Two completely unappealing, uncommercial ideas haha. Jim Butcher and his sock puppet lol.
Currently at a crossroads where the theme and magic system of mine fit well together but are too plagiarised looking (coincidentally. Also the thing it mirrors wasn't nearly as far developed when I came up with my idea, but over the last 2 years it has). So now I have decided to bench the magic system for something else. But now I need a different magic system. Have an idea, but it doesn't work yet. Edit: I actually split the magic system and setting and it works much better now. Also came up with a new magic system for the setting that is way more fitting.
@Salve to Cat Overlords yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said theme, but setting instead. That's what clashes with my magic system, or rather makes it too similar to this other thing. But I love the setting more than the magic system and the magic system also never worked out perfectly. So I'll stick with the setting. Put the magic system in my magic systems folder and reuse it at some point.
@@TheToneBender thing about all the specific powers and magic that will be used in the story. When will your MC first use magic? What will he do to defeat his first enemy? What spells will he use to defeat the last boss?
It begins at the cover. When I walk around a bookstore and the cover doesn’t catch my attention I obviously won’t be interested in it enough to bother grabbing it and reading the back to see if maybe I’ll read the first page.
Ahhh Kelsier. I have never read a character that I related to more in any book. I say the things he says and while I read the book. I would often react in my head only to read on in a few lines to here Kelsier say the same thing. What a perfect character! By perfect I mean troubled, awesome and troubled.
I wouldn't equate Mistborn with anything, it stands on it's own. That ending just couldn't be guessed by anyone, even though the clues were alllll there.
Check it out, is a 6 book series. Not so deep, but it is very interesting. The books are rated between 4.1 and 4.35 stars on goodreads, which speaks a lot. It is one of those series that I'd love to see animated
Holy shit I began the video without remembering what I was going to watch (lots of YT windows open ok?) and just realized that Brandon sounds kinda like John Mulaney in the first few seconds
So he said there are three magic systems in Mistborn. I know allomancy and feruchemy. Whats the third? Is it whatever magic keeps the inquisitors alive or is it like something involving the mists and ashmounts? Is it the kandra/mistwraiths?
Hemalurgy, the blood magic, the one that's used to transfer power with metal spikes and that makes you susceptible to the powers of Ruin. The Steel inquisitors, the kandra, and the koloss are hemalurgic creations.
Take a shot every time Brandon Sanderson says "uh". Or maybe buy a book every time Brandon Sanderson says "uh". LOL. I started reading Mistborn The Final Empire. I finished it. Now I'm in to its universe. I'm reading the Well of Ascension. ^_^
I had a story fall together from a handful of characters and several other weird ideas. I was thinking about them and suddenly they made sense to be together.
Oh, no. He's actually talking about the history of the setting. You'll know more soon. The first details sorrounding The Lord Ruler come relatively soon. [Mild Spoilers] . . . It's explained relatively soon that the Lord Ruler was, apparently, The Hero of Ages. Who "defeated the big bad" but in turn became a monstrous dictatorial emperor, the details on how that happened relate to what Sanderon said.
I latch on to one idea and then struggle to work it out because I'm missing setting or plot etc. I realise I need to step back and approach ideas less intensely 🥴
Most of my stories. never at the level of an actual book. Come from random thoughts like: "You know what would be cool?/funny?/interesting?" and then if i like it i kinda build the actual foundations afterwards and see how it evolves and how do i change it to make the original idea happen but still make sense
To me a book begins when the story starts. If it doesn't feel like the story has started yet, then I might read it but it doesn't feel like anything substantial. Like wanting steak and getting cotton candy.
if that shirt is Vin, which I think it is, it makes me realize about the heavy similarities between Vin and Korra from Avatar. Maybe get the Avatar studio to do an animated show of mistborn????
My ideas come to me like scenes in a movie that does not exist, and from that scene i build the world and its characters around making that scene make sense. My issue is when i get motivated to write, and on a good day, will wright a few pages of a story or concept but once its in type i just loose all drive... And the worst part is i have noticed that as i get older, the ideas come less and less frequently, the motivation is fewer and farther between and my ideas are not as detailed as they used to be and im only 35... i feel ill be boring and unimaginative in the next 10 years and it depresses me.
"Hey, my ring! I've been looking for that!" - Sauron, 2020, just before taking over the world.
So that's why 2020 is the way it is.
I read this in Ross Geller's voice because of that Red Sweater episode
Ya that made me lol when he said that.
@@crowthewicked8344 lol
"Hey, my Ring! I've been looking for that!" - Probably Jeff Bezos
I'm a game designer, and my latest project grew out of a simple question. Why does space exploration only ever seem to happen in sci-fi? Plenty of times you hear about dragons that can fly between worlds as part of the backstory or as flavor, but it's never the actual plot! So I decided to build a video game about interstellar dragon riders.
Dude that's so freaking badass
Sounds like the Githyanki in D&D, who are a part of the plot in Baldur's Gate 3.
THAT. IS SO. COOL.😍😍😍😍
That's a great idea!
*steals it because ideas make the writer ofc*
;P
Very nice idea.
I will say that there was a forgotten realms novel where the story was broken up with the history of the elves coming from space in wooden boats. It was a fun read.
attending a lecture where the teacher wears a kaladin t-shirt... that's just another level of awesomeness
You know this is the author, Brandon Sanderson, right?... He teaches a writing course at BYU every Spring...
Especially when said teacher created Kaladin
I really liked when he talked about giving the worst ideas to a good author and he will make it work.
That challenge sounds cool.
Okay, give me some bad ideas. Let me see what I can come up with.
@@Spiqaro A lazy, extremely bored high schooler imagines his school and teacher as something that an immature teenager would think is "cool" instead of learning and paying attention
@@Spiqaro a group of redditors take down magic America by getting the dark lord and the rest of the political parties into twinkies, and the magic system is based around the consumption of food
@@purplepawn5336 Based around the consumption of food? That sounds awesome.
And since you put them into twinkies, perhaps the only food that activates magical abilities is sugary. So people can conjure ice storms and fireballs, but only if they eat popsicles, sriricha sauce and the like.
It's always a fun challenge! When I was much younger, I was a fanfic author who had the belief "an idea is only as bad or good as the author who translates it into form". Back in 2007, I started a self-insertion fanfiction purely because people on the internet would always say "self-inserts are always bad stories and taboo for good authors" and I was like "alright, challenge accepted!". To add to the challenge, I made it first-person (when I'm primarily a third-person writer) so that the story had no choice BUT to stick with the self-insert and to give me an extra challenge.
It became one of the most reviewed (and very well known) Fire Emblem fanfiction prior to 2013 and the fandom's explosion. Just goes to show there's no such thing as a bad idea, just ideas that may be currently out of an author's ability to transform into a good story! :D
I even committed the ultimate taboo for an SI and paired up the MC with my favorite character (at the time), but the whole friendship to relationship developed organically and naturally to the point the followers actually were pushing for the pairing to get together before it was even written. Which, to me, felt like a vindication of the idea that anything can be done if done correctly. Literally tried to break as many of the established "rules" as possible in an attempt to give a giant middle finger to any pre-established notions of what makes a "bad" fanfic.
Fantasy heists are one of my favorite types of stories now that I've discovered them. Mistborn & the Gentleman Bastards series are fantastic.
Six of crows is pretty good if you haven't read that
You should definitely read Riyria Revelations!
I know this got said, but the Six of Crows series does also fit that
SIX 👏 OF 👏 CROWS 👏
SIX OF CROWS !!!
It's amusing that Mistborn could have been called Fogborn. 🤣
🤣🤣🤣
"Fogbirthed"
@@BeefinOut Epic
Still sounds well
I dunno. I feel like a name like that would have really mist the mark...
I watched the lecture and now I'm watching this again because there's nowhere near enough stuff like it.
Good writer, better public spokesperson I think.
Like Dammit_ Travis said, there aren't very many writers who are able to speak and teach so well. Doing and teaching are two different skills in most cases.
Brandon is rare in that he can bridge that gap.
Also, you are quite cute, can I get your number or insta?
@@pIayingwithmahwii don't hit people up via youtube comments, it's weird man
@@Heidi-ih9ej guy is probably 9 honestly
Well then, might I suggest my podcast where I interview authors about exactly this kind of thing? And... just... so much more.I'm in the process of posting my episodes to youtube as well, but it's a slower process. fromthinkingtoinking.podbean.com
When I come up with stories, it always happens randomly when I'm doing some mundane thing.
Aidan Binni yuuuuuup
And then you have to drop everything for a second and write it on a random sticky note that you can't find later when you need it 😅
When I'm doing yardwork is when my mind comes alive
Actually, that is kind of how chemistry works. Smash things together hard enough and you can either break existing bonds or form new ones.
I've just started oathbringer. Mistborn is one of my all time favourites. What a great time for authors over the last 10 years. Mr Sanderson, Mark Lawrence, Brent Weeks, Peter V Brett, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Trudi Canavan, Robin Hobb, Seanan McGuire, and Kate Griffin. I've loved sci fi/fantasy for 40 years, but this last decade has been on a different level.
I don't know man. Don't you get jaded when the first book is just a build-up for the next five books in the series? Everybody seems to have the trilogy, pentology, septology or whatever already planned before the first one is finished, and few are willing to have a more or less self-contained story anymore.
Mike Danger Are you saying it’s a bad thing that authors have a better understanding of where a book is going rather than just winging it?
@@mikedangerdoes I personally love when authors have things planned from the beginning and lay hints. It's one of my favorite things, to finish a series and feel like I want to go back and read it again to see every little thing building up to all the big reveals. Sounds like you're just someone who prefers standalones maybe? In fantasy those can be harder to come by but they exist.
@@nicolev.3532 I really appreciate pay offs and world-building and all that. But I don't really want to read 400 to 800 pages of set-up, just to get to the end and realise that nothing gets really resolved until the next book, if at all. Beginning, middle, end. There's a reason it's a tried and true formula. Even Harry Potter could keep each book pretty well self-contained, at least as far as its plot structure was concerned.
@@mikedangerdoes there's a kind of "formula" that I remember hearing on the Writing Excuses podcast that was basically: end the first book as if it is a stand-alone. Then, you can have your second book end in a cliff-hanger as bait for the third to complete a trilogy. This way, someone can finish a book and still feel satisfied but if it isn't your thing, no big deal. If you DO want more, then you're in for the long-haul for a bigger story. I wish more series followed this set-up.
Some series follow this, some do not. Of those that do not:
I enjoyed the First Law series enough to forgive it.
I did not enjoy Ilium or Hyperion enough to read past the first book.
Why would someone think that Roman empire with Pokemons is a bad idea?????
Ohh thos gladiatorial pokemon battles
Incredibilis
@@victoriap1561 That sounds good though.
What's it called
Right what terrible lack of taste
Interesting to learn where the idea for my favorite book series came from.
A lot of amateur writers have fantastic ideas, I'd bet many of the best ideas every thought up never were good books because the person who had them couldn't write them. And my personal favorite book, the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, is an idea which wouldn't have been interesting (to me anyway) in the hands of any other author.
These insights into a real-life author's process is so cool, helps me to keep going on my own path!
The best thing I do to start a story’s concept is to ask a what if, and then let the questions and answers start spiraling
Fantasy example: what if a knight woke up as a skeleton with no memory, holding a talking sword fixed with a demonic eye?
Why did they lose their memories? Who or what took their memories? What’s the sword? Why does it speak, where did it come from? Did they die and come back at a later era in time? Is there anyone that awoke the same way?
And from there it just builds and builds. Works every time
Nice
Good exercise, ill definitely try it
SPOILER
Mistborn isn't really "What if Sauron got the Ring" in the end though.
It was really more
"What if Sam murdered Frodo, took the Ring and became the Dark Lord".
Something like Star Wars is a more straight example of the Dark Lord actually winning.
Book 2 Spoilers
That's an accurate description on the first book there, but I would say the end of the second book shows off the whole 'Frodo handing Sauron the ring'-idea.
Spoilers
Not even that fully though, it's more
"What if Sam murdered Frodo, then defeated Sauron but had to become the Dark Lord in order to do it"
+Jonathan Campbell Once you get your idea, you obviously can springboard off of it to make any number of variations, that's the beauty of a piece of inspiration.
I'd argue that it's the anime Gurren Lagann as a novel if you look at the plot and character archetypes of the two. Like... it's literally that, which I find astonishing since the two came out around the same time.
@@PrimeofPerfection
You are 100% correct.
I love Gurren Lagaan and watched it way before reading Mistborn.
After reading Mistborn I was blown away by how similar! But guess what, that’s just plot in general! I’m sure Brandon never went through and extrapolated it in the same way, but isn’t it cool how stories can be so similar/so different.
Kamina/Kelsier are so similar. But then the stories have plenty of differences too!
I've heard variations of this advice from multiple successful authors, now. One idea by itself isn't enough to carry a novel. The good stuff happens when two or more unrelated ideas get mixed together. And sometimes the two ideas come to you years apart from one another. For a long time I resisted keeping a writer's notebook, because I didn't really get it. I get it now.
*>loose, imprecise description of atoms bouncing around and hitting each other to do special stuff*
*>was literally a biochem major*
:P
😂😂 I understand. It really is
Thank you Brandon for sharing your endless wealth of literary knowledge with us! These lectures have been super informative for my own writing and have helped me to really improve my writing! Blessings from France 🇫🇷 *sorry for not so great English*
Hi. Sorry for bad english
Your English was perfect 👌
The idea of ideas bouncing off each other and sticking creating a story. You describe it in a way it reminds me of the idea of nuclear fusion. Where two radioactive particles collide and the fusion reaction creates 10 times the power of nuclear fission (think fission is the term idk though) for splitting the atom
I came up with a story idea from 3 characters, 2 elves that had wings, 1 that didn't, and from it I created 5 different base races, 3 races that developed from the base races, 7 languages, 6 continents and an island, and about 4 different versions of over 2000 years of history. I started with a simple idea and kept building off of it.
How do you write languages?
No more Elves please, either do humans or some new race. Elves have been done a billion times
@@knightonart8886 That's just a placeholder name, they're unique races. Some of their qualities are similar to elves, so I used that name.
@@lycoris8879 oh okay. I see👍
@@lycoris8879 I actually still like elves and could you please tell when you publish??
The person who said lost roman legion plus pokemon was digging their own grave. Pokemon is a really easy concept to apply and having the settings as the roman world which is pretty interesting
It was actually his teacher, Sanderson got that part of the anecdote wrong.
It wasn't on line.
@@ChristmasLore No, his teacher is the origin of the Dresden files. The online argument is the origin of Codex Alera.
I love that I found this...
Thing is I work slightly differently. A scene comes to mind, and I work a story around that scene. I add characters as needed to fill in the roles which have opened up. For me, story comes first, characters second. After a first draft, I understand my characters and I expand from there. My current project has had an odd work flow as I work linearly. I'd wrote 14 chapters having no idea what to do, but to get to where I wanted to introduced a particular character and then I finished the rest of the story easily. In doing so, I now know how the first 14 chapters are suppose to be written and I am working on that now.
Sorry for the long text but I'd love to hear more from this channel and will probably binge some.
Everything you said here sounds exactly how I've written music my entire life starting when I was 11.
What an unforseen parallel that has only reinforced you as my favorite author these last 8 years.
Tonnes of amazing points in just this short vid! Definitely checking out the full lecture and taking notes.
Thank you for the upload Mr. Sanderson!
Thank you Mr. Sanderson. These videos mean a lot to me, as I have been very discouraged in my own writing and I thank you for helping me find the excitement again. Hoping to use these tools to improve! Cheers.
Such a good highlight, these are awesome to give to friends, as well as to come back to.
It's cool to see Brandon mention Sneakers. I saw it recently and it really damn good. Robert Redford is amazing. This is an awesome course on writing
i'm so happy this guy is so quick on stories and is really engaged in the writing/teaching world. but this is my first time hearing his voice and i was not expecting that voice :P
As a novice writer, it's nice to know that you are developing your thought processes in a similar way as published authors.
I often take plot ideas and combined them to create something new, sometimes it's good, sometimes I have to take a step back and say I can't write this at the moment, I don't have the skills yet. It's back there on the back burner waiting for me when I am ready.
Let's get this man a Silver Play Button!
Not sure he cares but sure.
A question I would have liked to have asked on your livestream: what was the thing that entered your head that began the journey for The Stormlight Archive?
This video actually helped encourage me to start working on the short story I have been writing
Bandai Namco said they want to work with you for future FromSoftware projects and now all of a sudden you up here in my RUclips algorithm.
Absolutely love the Mistborn books! About to start the series again(for the 5th time).
A story I’m currently working on came from a dream I had. :P
I have written a trilogy of novels which were based on a dream... That's where my best ideas come from. Editing it now.
Alan Hoover dreams can be so weird that they just kind of work.
@@laughsingay They definitely need tweaking to have some semblance of logic but they sire give cool a cool basis for things.
@@laughsingay Alan Hoover
My story began when I was thinking what I would do with what I consider plotholes in my favorite videogame series (jak & daxter as you can tell by my pic) if I were to make a sequel or prequel. It has grown so much throughout these 4 years that the original idea is barely existant now.
Fun fact: there are a few plotlines that are based on dreams just like you, and one of them my bff and I were characters (talking about staying hours brainstorming before sleep lol). Unfortunately mine dies... I literally checked if my head was on its place.
Good luck with your own stories!
I've written so many long term plots for rpg's that originated in my dreams.
It's a valid source!
The last part really got me man.now i have to read mistborn and that book by jim butcher.thx😁
You should read Mistborn, for sure. Really fun series with great characters.
Codex Alera is one of my favorite series I've re-read it all the way through multiple times.
Completely recommend both series. Very different, but very fun.
Yeah, Codex Alera is excellent. And I certainly haven't read a bad Sanderson book.
So in an alternate reality where Brandon's ideas had congealed slightly differently we could have ended up with the Miststorm Trilogy or the Rithmamist
Ngl I like the name Rithmamist. Sounds cool
Listening to Codex Alera right now thanks to this segment, and definitely enjoying it!
Jim Butcher might be right, but I don't think he proved anything. Pokemon has been a worldwide phenomenon for 25 years and still running strong, and does not get the respect it deserves. There are tons of popular fan-fiction, and fans are clamoring for more content. If you are a half decent writer and your sales pitch is pokemon crossed with anything, you will draw interest.
Honestly after reading the Codex Alera series, I wished the pokemon aspect was more prevalent.
Yeah same here. Pokemon as an idea is appealing in all formats. A book about collecting monsters sounds cool as heck.
Jim's story smells of sock puppetry lol. It is as you say taking the appealing idea of capturing monsters you then train to do battle with another great idea of the Roman legions. Two very appealing ideas, just coincidence the sock puppet chose those lol.
Oh, I loved Codex Alera!😂 So not surprised since I own every Sanderson book already...
Thank you for posting this, I was trying to figure out the name of the series that he mentioned and was having trouble finding it!
@@captbunzo It is pretty fun series. I just consumed them all in a row but last book got so boring i had to quit. Still sad that it didn't end very strong.
He’s right. Codex Alera is a really good book series and nobody ever talks about it. Not as good as Mistborn or even Dresden but a sorely under represented Jim Butcher series nonetheless.
I figure there are a lot of writers and aspiring authors in here. Me too, obviously. GOOD LUCK TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! I hope y'all make it big and I get to read your work.
Now the choice of words when he said that "smashing together atomic ideas makes them more exciting" actually is somewhat accurate :D
sheeeshh one of the best series, with rich characters and high fantasy world, its just tooo good
At 4:30: ideas are like atoms crashing around...well sir, that's actually how science works for me. I love this analogy--I too keep a series of brainstorming files and those list out good ideas for chemical analysis that aren't applicable to my current project. Whenever I get stuck, I open up the brainstorming files and see if there's anything helpful. Solved a problem just this week involving a poorly documented nitrogen reaction: the inspiration arose from a well known solution to a phosphate chemistry problem--I don't work with phosphates, I just saved the idea in my brainstorming file because it had interesting perspectives.
Had that mentality for a while now ever since I’ve come into the community of magic building
Story of my life I was sitting around a Bon Fire with my friends when one of them took out money and set it alight coz nobody wanted to go fetch the wood to burn and the shock of that moment of seeing that money burn had me thinking all the way back home smelling of smoke and all... from that single moment and never before thought of scenario I came up with almost half a dozen magic systems all drawing from that single memory no joke cause depending on how I looked at it each and every time I would come up with another idea or add on to it, most of these magic systems are in one story but a few have spawned potential stories as well and each took me months to build and some I’m still building 3 years later
I am rereading Codex Aleria right now. It's a great series!!
Absolutely fantastic clip!
Interesting video that conclusion about Jim Butcher love how talk about showing up/winning that argument as he wrote a successful book off it ! =)
The idea from my story came from an album by my favorite artist. The album was named K.O.D. and it was a dark album. It posed the question, are you a King of Darkness? What does it mean to be King?
In my story, I answer it.
To be a King of Darkness isn't to create, destroy, or command. It is to be able to survive all the is thrown at you and overcome it.
That's the name of my story, King of Darkness.
tecca nina
@@khajiithaswares7336 awoo awoo
I get my ideas from dreams I had + things I love. I keep journals of ideas, dialogue, scenarios, settings, and random characters. I'm happy to know a best-selling author has a similar method of writing as me, by piecing a story together from all these different parts. I also write what I know I would personally love to read about.
Reason my big WIP is a science/fantasy adventure with floating islands, crystal palaces, magic and theoretical quantum physics mixing, and people dealing with inherited issues from previous generations. And dragons!
My main characters are all in their 20s, ranging from 22 to 29, and explore this transient period of growth where you don't feel like an adult while also not being a kid. I'm sick of teenage protagonists being our only viewpoint in these stories - Give me adults on grand adventures for once.
How I've only recently stumbled upon Brandon and his work I have no idea, but damn is it great.
Diosmio creo que no somos consientes de lo maravilloso de este video.
Your process is really interesting. Love these vids
я не знаю английский,но просто хочу сказать что мне очень нравятся ваши книги,спасибо Вам!
What was being said at the end I forgot no to be very true, I can think of some great ideas for a story but the moment I try to write something based upon it, I completely ruin it, I can capture what it is that I was thinking. The skill of the writer is definitely key to making a good book, I for one have already figured out first hand that I will never be a writer.
Try writing short stories
(gets challenged to make a good story out of two stupid ideas)
(actually does it)
What a madlad
Oh yeah two completely unappealing ideas lol. Capturing monsters and training them to do battle, and the Romans. Two completely unappealing, uncommercial ideas haha.
Jim Butcher and his sock puppet lol.
Thanks for the insight into your writing process, Brandon! :D
This. is FANTASTIC!
Good to see Sneakers getting some love!
Often with a visual in my mind. I see something in my head that I take and build a story around.
Currently at a crossroads where the theme and magic system of mine fit well together but are too plagiarised looking (coincidentally. Also the thing it mirrors wasn't nearly as far developed when I came up with my idea, but over the last 2 years it has). So now I have decided to bench the magic system for something else. But now I need a different magic system. Have an idea, but it doesn't work yet.
Edit: I actually split the magic system and setting and it works much better now. Also came up with a new magic system for the setting that is way more fitting.
@Salve to Cat Overlords yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said theme, but setting instead. That's what clashes with my magic system, or rather makes it too similar to this other thing. But I love the setting more than the magic system and the magic system also never worked out perfectly. So I'll stick with the setting. Put the magic system in my magic systems folder and reuse it at some point.
@@TheToneBender thing about all the specific powers and magic that will be used in the story. When will your MC first use magic? What will he do to defeat his first enemy? What spells will he use to defeat the last boss?
Trying to loosen my grip on my story ideas, otherwise my concept will never change xD
oh hey it's Brandon Sanderson, didn't expect to see him here in my recommendations this evening
"You bastard, I'm in!"
It begins at the cover. When I walk around a bookstore and the cover doesn’t catch my attention I obviously won’t be interested in it enough to bother grabbing it and reading the back to see if maybe I’ll read the first page.
we love you, mister
Imagine wanting to win an argument so bad that you write a whole book series to do it
Ahhh Kelsier. I have never read a character that I related to more in any book. I say the things he says and while I read the book. I would often react in my head only to read on in a few lines to here Kelsier say the same thing. What a perfect character! By perfect I mean troubled, awesome and troubled.
The ideas come together if the number of electrons in the outer ring equal the number nine.
I wouldn't equate Mistborn with anything, it stands on it's own. That ending just couldn't be guessed by anyone, even though the clues were alllll there.
the 1st few pages, if a book does not grab me within a few pages i find it a hard read. loved your mistborn series.
Love this. I am in book 4 of the Codex Alera, or should I say The roma legions and their pokemon.
Now I want to read that Pokemon story🤣🤣
ikr? Furies of Calderon is the first book of the series apparently, really want to check it out now.
Codex Alera is a fantastic series
It’s a really good series. Cannot recommend it enough.
Check it out, is a 6 book series. Not so deep, but it is very interesting. The books are rated between 4.1 and 4.35 stars on goodreads, which speaks a lot. It is one of those series that I'd love to see animated
Six book series, finished story, recommended by Brando Sando himself. Go get em!
aaaaand now Codex Alera goes on my wishlist.
I'm puzzled - why on earth would anyone downvote this video (as of this writing, 31 have)???
I remember Jim Butcher telling that story.
Buried beneath a mountainous TBR 😢
Codex Alera is the best series I've read.
Holy shit I began the video without remembering what I was going to watch (lots of YT windows open ok?) and just realized that Brandon sounds kinda like John Mulaney in the first few seconds
Sneakers is a very underrated film.
Wow…. How does RUclips know I have this book in my house ready to read 😳
So he said there are three magic systems in Mistborn. I know allomancy and feruchemy. Whats the third? Is it whatever magic keeps the inquisitors alive or is it like something involving the mists and ashmounts? Is it the kandra/mistwraiths?
Hemalurgy, the blood magic, the one that's used to transfer power with metal spikes and that makes you susceptible to the powers of Ruin. The Steel inquisitors, the kandra, and the koloss are hemalurgic creations.
Take a shot every time Brandon Sanderson says "uh". Or maybe buy a book every time Brandon Sanderson says "uh". LOL.
I started reading Mistborn The Final Empire. I finished it. Now I'm in to its universe. I'm reading the Well of Ascension. ^_^
The ending of WoA will blow your mind. The Hero of Ages will blow your mind even more. Enjoy.
@@MetalGildarts shhhh no spoilers..hahaha
I've only read the first one but I can't wait to read the second!
I had a story fall together from a handful of characters and several other weird ideas. I was thinking about them and suddenly they made sense to be together.
I hate heists, in any form. But I loved Mistborn so much I didn't even realize it was a heist in many ways lol
They literally called themselves thieving crews though and planned it out on a chalkboard
Just started reading mistborn...hope that was not the darn ending you just gave!
Oh, no. He's actually talking about the history of the setting. You'll know more soon. The first details sorrounding The Lord Ruler come relatively soon.
[Mild Spoilers]
.
.
.
It's explained relatively soon that the Lord Ruler was, apparently, The Hero of Ages. Who "defeated the big bad" but in turn became a monstrous dictatorial emperor, the details on how that happened relate to what Sanderon said.
I latch on to one idea and then struggle to work it out because I'm missing setting or plot etc. I realise I need to step back and approach ideas less intensely 🥴
Most of my stories. never at the level of an actual book. Come from random thoughts like: "You know what would be cool?/funny?/interesting?" and then if i like it i kinda build the actual foundations afterwards and see how it evolves and how do i change it to make the original idea happen but still make sense
Characters, Setting, Plot..... perfectly applies to ttrpgs as well.
To me a book begins when the story starts. If it doesn't feel like the story has started yet, then I might read it but it doesn't feel like anything substantial. Like wanting steak and getting cotton candy.
Note to self : story is plot, character,and setting. Glued together by conflict.
if that shirt is Vin, which I think it is, it makes me realize about the heavy similarities between Vin and Korra from Avatar. Maybe get the Avatar studio to do an animated show of mistborn????
Thank you!
You had me at Sneakers. Time to read some Brandon Sanderson.
Is he wearing a Dragon Prince t-shirt? If so, that’s awesome! 😂
This is so cool.
For other great fantasy heist stories, check out the Locke Lamora series by Scott Lynch
My ideas come to me like scenes in a movie that does not exist, and from that scene i build the world and its characters around making that scene make sense. My issue is when i get motivated to write, and on a good day, will wright a few pages of a story or concept but once its in type i just loose all drive... And the worst part is i have noticed that as i get older, the ideas come less and less frequently, the motivation is fewer and farther between and my ideas are not as detailed as they used to be and im only 35... i feel ill be boring and unimaginative in the next 10 years and it depresses me.